The 2014 Vancouver International Wine Festival has come to an end, and we were invited to cover two events. We’ll spend the next two posts to give you a recap. First of all, a glimpse of the International Tasting Room. There were various sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We went to Thursday evening one; apparently it also tends to be the most “tame” session of all.

As I always say, I’m no wine expert and I don’t have the trained palate for it. It’s something I would love to explore more, though. With that caveat, I will list out some wines that we enjoyed at the tasting room while feeling all overwhelmed in the presence of the 178 booths there.

This year’s theme country was France with a global focus of Bubbly. We spent a good amount of time in the French wine area.

There was a fun quiz in the event program that helps you identify the types of French wines you would most enjoy. Guess what, I’m all over the map. I suppose it’s because I enjoy different types of wine depending on the food I’m having, the occasion, the weather, my mood, and every other factor that you can blame on. There really isn’t a go-to wine for me, per se.

We probably stopped by a good 15-20 tables in the French area. Here are our highlights: (more…)

We were invited to the ChefmeetsBCGrape event back in June. Co-produced with the Wines of British Columbia, it’s a wine and food fundraiser for the Arts Club Theatre, celebrating the finest offerings of wine and food from across BC. I had a backlog of photos and posts to go through, and finally here I am to show you some mouth-watering photos from the event. Better late than never, right?

It was a sold out event with more than 500 wine lovers. Each of us went from station to station to taste dishes put on by 15 local restaurants, and sample wines from close to 100 BC wineries. You know there would be no shortage of good food and good wines.

A sold out event featuring close to 100 BC wineries

Each of us was given an event guide, with a slot for the wine glass. What a great idea to free up our hands from juggling plates and glasses!